Straight Razor
by Osiris Moon
Summary: They stayed alive for ten months, but that didn't matter now.  All that mattered was that everything they had belonged to Negan.  But you can't own people, not forever.
1. Inherent Disgust

.I.

Hey Mr. Stargazer

* * *

 _Chapter 1: Inherent Disgust_

* * *

"What is it?"

"Trucks. Looks like three, could be more."

"Shit," she hissed, shifting to kneel on her right knee to give her other one a break. "Can you get closer?"

"Looks like someone's at the gate," a man with a nearly empty semiautomatic rifle in his hands said. "Maybe if I climb a tree or something I could get a shot-"

"Don't," she said with a shake of her head. She turned to the heavier brush directly to her right. She couldn't see four pairs of eyes, but she knew they were trained on her earnestly. "Cameron, I'll give you a boost."

A gangly woman fought through the foliage to kneel beside the first girl, whose fingers were already laced and ready. The second woman adjusted her grip on the sniper in her hand, standing up all the while.

"Wait!" the man with the rifle whispered furiously, stopping the two women in their tracks. "He's leaving … he just went inside."

"Are you sure?" the first woman demanded, picking up her discarded pistol and waiting until the man affirmed their stroke of luck. "Rich, are you sure?"

"Yeah," the man named Rich nodded, gaze now solely focused on the wide open entrance. Cameron glanced at the first woman, watching as she wiped the sweat from her forehead, then turned back to the brush.

"Okay. Rich will lead, everyone stay close and check those trucks when we pass them. Don't shoot unless you have to. If this is Quade, we'll need hostages," she said, helping the remaining three out into the small clearing beside the road. Rich was still dangling precariously in sight, but he could take care of himself. "Jezebel, when we get to the entrance, you keep watch and keep that door open in case we need to get the hell out of dodge."

Jezebel was the only one disgruntled by the plan, but she bit her tongue and stood up with the rest of them without a word. Rich gave one last lingering sweep before he beckoned the rest of them to follow. They hunched awkwardly towards the first truck, until they were close enough to crane their necks and see no one was inside.

The woman gestured to continue, and Rich crept to the second truck, coming up on the left side as the rest went on the right. Five of them waited for a sharp whistle to indicate the coast was clear and then sauntered on. Approaching the third and final truck, whose nose was practically against the still abandoned gate, a man named Fisher hung back a little.

"What?" Cameron asked, sniper slung over her back in favour of a smaller 9mm revolver. The first woman also hesitated, worried they had missed something. Fisher gave the second truck a curious look.

"Thought I heard something," he muttered, turning around just in time to see someone climb out of the third truck wielding a pistol of his own. "Ace!"

The first woman turned upon instruction and grabbed the attacker by his ankle. She dragged him out of the truck too quickly for him to do anything but grunt loudly. He smashed his head on the door, then the steps, and finally the ground with a resounding _crunch_.

The sounds of a scuffle on Rich's side of the truck made Jezebel and a woman named Olivia scurry to his defense. Ace, who kicked the unconscious attacker behind the wheel, hurried over to the gates, waiting for the other five for regroup as well.

Rich, Jezebel, and Olivia had also stuffed their unconscious body out of sight, then jogged over to where Ace was waiting beside the entrance. They had a moment's breather before Ace nodded at Jezebel and they entered the camp. Or, it had used to be some kind of summer camp.

There was a distance between where they were and the nearest cabin. The cabins in the camp made a horseshoe around the center, where most of their people, Ace could see, had been herded and brought to their knees. A stack of firewood stacked by the entrance barely hid the five of them. Ace thanked her lucky stars someone had been too lazy to get rid of it yet. She could hear the sounds of scattered laughter and the jeering of a man she had only caught a glimpse of. They had weapons, that was all that mattered.

Cameron tapped her shoulder and she turned awkwardly to face her. God, she looked disgusting and tired. Ace swallowed hard at the sight of dried blood on Cameron's face. They had barely escaped with their lives not four hours ago. They couldn't take on three truckloads of people with what they had, as determined as they looked.

"Me and Rich can go towards the well. See if anyone's hiding, maybe try to see how many of them there are," Cameron said, pointing towards said well that was a few meters to their right. "You take them to the vault. Try to get some more ammo."

Ace nodded quickly, hoping her gaze didn't betray just how pessimistic she felt. She waited for Cameron and Rich to maneuver themselves to the other side of the wood pile. Ace gave one last calculated stare towards the cabin. She jumped when another wave of laughter broke the silence. They didn't seem very interested in the gate. Maybe because there were so many of them that no matter what the hell came through, they'd be able to handle it.

She reached out and grabbed Olivia's shoulder, much more tightly than was necessary. "One at a time. You first."

"Are you sure?" Olivia asked quickly. She seemed as distracted as Ace was, and that wasn't going to fly. Her gaze kept on traveling towards the mass of people, hoping or maybe dreading to see the face of her son.

"I'm sure," Ace said, gaining Olivia's attention once more and nodding. "We'll get him out of there."

Olivia mirrored the motion and extended her leg carefully. "Say when."

Ace watched, bouncing a little on the balls of her feet. "Now!"

Olivia broke into a sprint, a flickering shadow in the blue haze of dusk. The fire that burned in the center of camp made the outskirts of the gates look like they were shifting. No one moved their attention away from the man who was pacing back and forth in front of their people.

Fisher readied himself and watched Ace carefully. Ace allowed herself to become distracted as the man stopped in front of a woman with a shock of blond hair. Bonnie.

"Ho-ly shit!" the man scoffed, bending down and positioning what looked like a baseball bat behind him sticking straight up. "You look like _shit_!"

Ace felt her hand curl into a fist.

"Ace?" Fisher asked anxiously, eyes on a different man, who turned around and was starting to walk towards the gate.

Ace was enraptured with the man holding the baseball bat, how he reached forward to touch Bonnie's face, or maybe to push away the curtain of hair in her eyes. Bonnie shrunk away from him, naturally, causing the man to make a crude comment. More laughter. Ace grit her teeth and shook her head to physically dispel the angry fog that was making her stupid.

Ace felt a shift, and she looked over to see that Fisher had gone on his own accord. She watched him disappear behind the cabin. Before she could follow suit, the man Fisher had spotted was suddenly only a few feet away. She slammed herself to the ground and scrambled to curl up and out of sight.

She held her breath, praying he would move on, but his footsteps halted. Ace, eyes wide and darting around for any kind of escape, saw only the gate inches from her nose. Sounds of scuffling reached her ears and she readied herself to be cut into bite sized pieces.

Instead, came the sound of water splashing on the ground not far away. Then came the smell. Grinding her teeth in annoyance, she scooted away from the wood that the man had decided to take a piss on.

After what seemed like forever the man was finished and began to move back to the group. This time Ace watched only to see if anyone was looking. She refused to acknowledge that the man had stopped in front of yet another one of her friends.

She darted across the clearing and didn't stop when she was behind the cabin. She knew Olivia and Fisher weren't stupid enough to wait for her. Barreling towards the weapons 'vault' that used to be some kind of mail building, Ace stopped only for the sound of footsteps frighteningly close. Arms outstretched, she dug her feet into the ground and scrambled into the crevice between two cabins.

Eyes wide and adjusting to the darkness quickly, Ace watched the man walk right past her hiding place and continue on to check behind the other cabins.

Just as Ace rest her head against the wall and let out a sigh of relief, the sound of something shattering came from within the weapons vault. Though equal in volume to a shrill scream in Ace's mind, the sound only attracted the one patrol, who readied his weapon and cautiously edged towards the unsuspecting vault.

Ace left her hiding place, but shoved her pistol into the waistband of her pants. She dug around her pocket and flexed her fingers into a comfortable position around brass knuckles. Careful footfalls and even breaths made Ace a ghost behind the unsuspecting patrol.

She awkwardly hopped so she was directly behind him. He held his breath, about to open the door to the vault and no doubt expose Olivia and Fisher. Ace brought back her right fist, reaching out with with her left and letting it hover over his shoulder.

Ace aimed her punch so she hit the back of his neck, where the brain is attached to the spine. Upon impact the man immediately went limp and Ace used her left hand to clamp down on his shoulder and throw him to the ground where he couldn't make noise crumpling to the floor.

She moved to the door, opening it a crack and being greeted with the terrified faces of Fisher and Olivia, standing over a broken gun case. She shook her head. "Hurry the fuck up."

Designating herself to watch duty, Ace first went over to the dead man on the ground and pocketed most of the things he was carrying, including a large knife that she used to plunge into his eye socket.

His clip was fully loaded, so she opted to keep it on hand instead of using her knuckles. With a few seconds of free time on her hands, she spent it tuning into the baseball bat wielding fuckface who had everyoneone their knees.

"But it's not just me, is it?" the man asked, the smile in his voice chilling. "It's ol' Seth too. Seth said to me that some Asian lady let him go. Isn't that right, Seth?"

"Yes sir," Seth responded. Ace's blood ran cold. She recognized that voice.

"But, see, I don't see any Asian ladies here," the man continued. Ace, curiosity getting the best of her, edged to the side and looked through the slits of the cabins to watch the man as he talked. He wore a leather jacket and a red scarf that was difficult to look at in the glow of the fire. "I see a little bitch who happens to be Asian, but no lady."

At his last comment, the man swung his baseball bat at Looey, who was kneeling dutifully before him. The bat missed him by a hair, and no one missed the way he flinched. Ace couldn't see his face, but she knew he had to look seething.

"I mean," the man said, turning to the crowd of people. "Am I going crazy? Does anyone see her? Seth?"

"No sir," Seth said. Ace wiped her hands on her pants and swallowed hard. There was something unnerving about being the topic of conversation at such a cultish gathering.

"It's too bad too," the man said, shouldering his bat easily. "I actually wanted to thank her. To talk to her, at least." He moved out of sight, but at that point Ace was too nervous to shift and follow him. "Seth told me she was in charge. Sounds like she has at least one braincell in her fucking head."

True, she'd made the call to let 'Seth' go, but only after realizing that he was part of a bigger group and that said group would go looking if he disappeared. It wasn't a nice argument that she had with Looey, but she had won at least. Fat lot of good that did, seeing their current predicament.

"It doesn't matter." The man came back into sight, pointing his baseball bat lined with … something sharp at Looey's face. "What matters though, is where she is. You got others?"

A pause made Ace believe Looey wasn't going to answer. Finally, he choked out: "Yes."

Ace instantly tensed in concern. How badly hurt was he? He sounded like he had gotten the beating of a lifetime… She glanced back to see what the hell was taking Olivia and Fisher so long.

"How many?" the man asked evenly.

"Seven," Looey replied.

The man laughed, quick and humourless. "Aw shit. Are you telling me I'm going have to give this damn speech _again_? If they're going to be as sore about the news as you were, maybe I should just kill them…"

"No!" The cry came from a woman beside Looey, who was shaking out of either fear or anger; Ace couldn't tell. "Please no, they'll-"

"Miranda, shut up," Looey commanded,

Ignoring him, Miranda continued pleading to the very amused looking man. "They'll listen. We just have to go and tell them, they should be back from their run soon."

"Is that so?" the man asked, his voice low. The mass of people held their breath, unsure how he was going to receive such information. Ace found herself holding her breath too. He broke out into a smile. "Hot damn! Working for me already? I like it."

Ace's heart stopped. What had he just said? Olivia and Fisher exited the vault and were hissing her name, but she didn't care. Who the hell was this guy and what had he done to make Looey so docile?

There was one thing Ace was absolutely certain of, thinking of the gash on Cameron's face: they wouldn't survive working for someone else. They had already been burned before. Hell, they had been burned earlier that godforsaken day.

Seeing red, Ace raised her gun and closed on of her eyes, aiming for the man's obnoxiously red scarf…

Gunfire threw her off balance. It wasn't her. It came from somewhere directly across from where Ace stood, and made the man whirl around in surprise. Ace smiled. Cameron, probably. Fisher ran over and yanked her by the arm.

"It's time to go," he commanded, handing her a rifle and sprinting towards the still wide open exit. Ace didn't hesitate before following.

Jezebel was peering around the gate, shooting at anyone who came close. She wasn't the best shot, but Ace appreciated the effort. Fisher ran straight to the exit, but Olivia knelt by the last cabin and began to rain fire on anyone she didn't recognize.

"Don't be stupid," Ace shouted, trying to haul her to her feet and found herself being pushed away.

"I'm not leaving him," Olivia said, resuming her assault. Ace glared at the back of her head for only half a second. Then, she was loading up her rifle and positioning herself behind Olivia to cover her as best as she could.

If Olivia was grateful for her presence, she didn't show it. Ace helped as best as she could, but soon there was hardly anyone in sight. Many of them had taken cover, obviously wary of Olivia's wrath.

There were a few straggling closer to the exit, but before Ace could pull the trigger, they collapsed. A shape shifted behind the wood pile, then what looked suspiciously like the barrel of a gun poked out. Rich. It must be.

Lips quirking for a heartbeat, Ace whipped back around to try and knock out a few people rushing for cover behind the cabins.

Ace lifted up her rifle, peering into the camp as if expecting a whole army to rise out of the dirt and swallow them whole.

"Olivia, they're regrouping, we have to leave," Ace insisted. Someone had stomped out the fire. The camp was in utter darkness. There were a few panicked voices, but they were hushed and garbled. Olivia stood up but didn't move. "Olivia …"

Ace didn't hear so much as she just knew that someone was creeping up behind her. She smacked whoever it was in the nose with the butt end of her semiautomatic, not lowering it until she heard their body hit the ground. Ace reached backwards to grab Olivia and groped nothing but air.

Neck swiveling at an unhealthy speed, Ace's heart rose in her throat when she saw Olivia hurrying towards the center of the camp. People, kneeling and otherwise, still were dutifully the centerpiece of a squabble that couldn't last for more than a few more minutes at this rate.

"Shit! Who turned off the lights?" the man with the baseball bat hollered from across the camp. There was a loud whacking noise, presumably from said baseball bat and someone's flesh. "Six, huh? Five to go…"

Ace sprinted to grab Olivia's arm but was tackled to the side by someone who jumped between the cabins to get her. Landing on her side, her rifle wasn't in optimum position to be fired. Instead she whacked the person in the head with it until they released their grip on her neck.

In a last ditch attempt to grab Olivia, Ace left her rifle on the ground to grab her arm with both hands. "We have got to _go_!"

Suddenly, darkness was no longer their ally. The truck lights near the entrance lit up and they were completely exposed. Ace allowed Olivia to shake her off, so panicked that she forgot she was trying to be a hero. Instead, she focused on the man with the baseball bat, who was close enough that when they made eye contact she saw the impatience in his expression.

"Ace?" From the ground, Bonnie's trembling voice got stronger as she realized that it was, in fact, Ace she was talking to. Olivia had long since dove towards her son, stroking his face and demanding if he was okay. "Ace, stop. Please, you gotta stop-"

"Negan, there's one-" a voice called the man with baseball bat, cut off by a bullet to the back of the leg. He collapsed in a mess of pain as Jezebel ducked behind the gate, not wanting to be spotted again. The way the baseball bat man jerked at the man's words gave Ace a name to attach to a face. A face she didn't get to properly analyze before she did the exact opposite to what Bonnie was still pleading she do.

Negan''s people were still gradually coming over to her side of the camp, so she only had to shove one or two people out of her way as she sprinted across the center of the camp towards the exit. Ducking behind the last cabin after hearing more gunfire, Ace was assaulted by a flurry of shouts coming from her rght, coming from the weapons vault. She was surrounded … almost.

Bonnie was still screaming her name, and by then Miranda and even _Looey_ had joined in, pleading she give up. Ace hesitated before the return fire from a few of the intruders spurred her into continuing a hasty exit.

Too quick for anyone to get a good shot at her, Ace bolted towards freedom, hoping Jezebel had gotten rid of whoever had turned on those truck lights.

Rich exploded from the wood pile and disappeared around the gate a few seconds before Ace reached it. He had been covering her, of course he had.

"Jezebel, go! I got the gate!" Ace commanded, allowing the other woman to slip past her and follow Rich as he sprinted down the road. Ace shot a few warning fires just to make the intruders second guess themselves before slamming the gate shut and running for dear life.

Ace had to dive into the tree line much sooner than Rich and Jezebel, simply because the latched gate wasn't much of a roadblock. She saw two dark shapes down the road scramble into the foliage and she prayed the majority of their pursuers would follow her instead. She could hear the brisk shouts of commands and a few more gunshots before they ceased as well. Ace continued running, her breathing even despite her speed and her load.

To try and signal anyone, knowing she wasn't alone, would be suicide. Instead, Ace continued south hoping they'd have the same destination in mind.

A few times Ace dove behind a tree to hide from a crack of a tree branch. Whether it was walkers or people Ace didn't care. Her hands wouldn't stop shaking at this point as exhaustion weighed down every her step. Occasionally she would smack her cheeks to remain high on adrenaline.

After a few minutes of running without meeting anything ugly, she was greeted by the barrel of a gun with a friendly face attached to it. Rich lowered his rifle and jerked his head at Jezebel.

"Said she needed a breather," he explained. He rubbed his arm, blood seeping through his shirt. A shake of his head stopped Ace from attempting to assist him. "Fisher? Olivia?"

"Fisher made it out, but I haven't seen him. Olivia stayed behind," Ace replied, still not panting as much as Rich or Jezebel. "Cameron?"

"She tried to shoot him and they swarmed her first," Rich said. "Fucking dumbass."

Ace disagreed but she kept it to herself. "Did she shoot him?"

"'Course not," he spat. "That's not how it works. We don't have luck. We have empty guns and a pregnant lady in the middle of the woods being hunting by some douche with a bat."

Jezebel looked miffed at being labeled as a burden, but she lowered her head instead of arguing. Rubbing her stomach wistfully, she struggled to her feet.

Ace felt a pang, thinking of the rifle she discarded back at the camp. She looked behind her, noticing that their hunters had become completely silent. A moment or two passed before Ace turned back to Richard, who was rubbing the baldness of his head with one hand in frustration.

"We circle back to the gas station," Ace said, squinting despite the glow of the moon making Rich's frown decently visible. "And hope Fisher makes it there too."

"And if Quade hasn't head out yet?" Rich demanded. "Talk about a rock and a hard place."

Ace was quiet for a second, looking past Rich with glazed eyes.

"Jezebel, I can help you walk," she said after a minute.

Rich snorted but was too exhausted to argue. Ace wrapped Jezebel's arm around her shoulder and followed Rich deeper into the forest.


	2. Shameful Causation

_Chapter 2: Shameful Causation_

* * *

Ace took the brunt of the pandemonium when she ran through the gate. In its place, silence settled. From their knees, Looey's people shifted and steadied themselves against the gravel.

Olivia removed her hand from her son's back. Then the muzzle of a rifle pushed her in line with the rest. She joined her group as they gawked at Negan, sensing his outrage. Most eyes followed his baseball bat as he twirled it on his shoulder.

He looked over at Cameron, who was still keeled over in pain after being hit in the stomach with said baseball bat. Her ragged breaths only somewhat satisfied him.

Looey was mesmerized by the blown open gate. Voices shouted, still loud enough to be understandable. He inhaled sharply and his wife looked up.

"Please," Miranda breathed. He couldn't hear her.

The calm shattered when Looey leaped forward, a single name tearing from his lips. "Ace!"

Three men were on him before he could take more than five steps. The movement made Negan glance in the direction of the noise, annoyance and disdain painted on his face. He ran a gloved hand over his beard and waited until his men had finished punching Looey to a blood-sputtering mess.

"I have got to say … that shit was not cool, Samuel, my boy," Negan said, his tone scathing. "Not cool at all. I get that I didn't get to finish my opening speech, but to send people to _kill me_ before I could finish?"

"We didn't send them," Looey wheezed in between bits of coughing. After spitting an especially grotesque glob of blood from his throat, he continued. "I wanted to … stop them."

"Right," Negan replied, waving his bat back and forth, sauntering closer to the line of people who had more or less stayed still throughout the whole ordeal. "Tell me, Sammy boy, do I look like a _fucking idiot_ to you?"

"I didn't-" Looey shook his head, flinching when Negan stepped forward.

"Because I don't like being treated like an idiot," Negan continued. "I don't like it when people tell me that they'll come quietly and a shit tonne of my men die instead."

"They didn't know what was happening," Looey said through grit teeth, more from anger than pain. "They thought … they could help …"

"Well, in that case, I think it's about goddamn time they learn that we're not the problem here; you are." Negan finished his sentence by pointing at Cameron, who received a hit from the butt end of a glock. She cried out, and Looey winced. "Where are they, Samuel? Tell me and I promise I'll only kill one of them for it."

Looey jolted at the proposition, craning his neck up and squinting in the headlights of the truck. "You don't need to-"

"I do," Negan cut him off curtly. "And I will kill a hell of a lot more than one if the next thing that comes out of your mouth isn't where I can find them."

Looey ducked his head again, shaking it all the while. His fingers clenched into the asphalt, feeling the pressure of over thirty pairs of eyes singing holes into him. He relaxed his hand and pushed off the ground, wiping the blood from his mouth and facing Negan head-on, upright on both his knees. "Bonnie-"

Negan turned away from him and gestured with his hand, done talking to him. Looey's voice rose an octave, shrill and desperate as the men closed in on him once more

"Bonnie knows! Bonnie would know."

Negan turned all the way around and looked at Looey for a long time. His men hovered over Looey, waiting for a go-ahead. His gaze then started to wander. "Then, which one of you assholes is Bonnie?"

Heads turned to look at a woman desperately trying to disappear into the ground. She closed her eyes and forced herself to breathe when she heard footsteps coming to rest in front of her.

The baseball bat hit the ground in front of her and she immediately looked up, hiding no longer. Negan quirked an eyebrow. "You're Bonnie?"

Finding no use in lying, she dropped her gaze and nodded. Negan crouched down in front of her, giving her a slow, easy smile. The longer he stayed in that position, thinking carefully about the next words he would say, the more Bonnie wished he would just off her and get it over with.

From the gleam in his eye, he had different plans. "Well, sweetheart. Tonight's your big night."

* * *

Jezebel was out of breath, but sucked it up until they got to the gas station. Rich helped her sit down on the curb, close enough to the trees to be at least slightly covered. Ace ventured towards the gas station itself.

The road was littered with a handful of bodies, the others must have gotten up and walked away. Rich scowled at the closest corpse to him. In his opinion, there should be a dozen more bodies joining them. Scumbags.

The moon was bright, but not bright enough to see inside the building from far away. With the door having long been kicked off its hinges, Ace could stand back a few feet and squint inside. It also meant the person who was sitting on a stool within the room could see her. They stared each other down, Ace holding Richard's gun while the person kept theirs draped across their lap.

"Fisher," Ace said, barely more than a shot in the dark.

The person stood up. "Yeah."

"Alone?"

"Yeah."

Ace lowered her gun, trusting that he had already made sure there was no one else hiding around the corner.

"Is that Jezebel?" Fisher asked, stepping out of the gas station gingerly.

"And Rich," Ace said. "And me. That's it."

Fisher nodded slowly. If he was bothered by what she said he didn't say so.

"Who shot first?" He asked.

"Cameron," Ace said. "How many you got left?"

She jut her chin towards his rifle. He stuck up four fingers. Ace regretted leaving a perfectly good gun behind again since Rich had little more than five in his.

"Good for her, taking her shot," he said. The pair started walking to the end of the curb at a leisurely pace. "Stupid as hell, but good for her."

Again, Ace said nothing. Rich greeted them when they got closer with a curt nod from where he sat next to Jezebel.

"Good to see you on your feet," he said to Fisher, who crossed Jezebel to help his friend stand up.

"Right back at you," Fisher smiled. Ace offered Jezebel a hand and she ruefully took it.

Jezebel's shaky hand was pressed against the baby bump on her stomach and she seemed to be sweating an awful lot. Ace silently stared at her until Jezebel computed the other woman's concern.

"I'm fine." That was all Ace could pressure out of Jezebel.

The night was cold, but the moon was bright now. Fisher and Rich waited side by side for Ace to come to a decision.

She turned to look at the gas station. Then she peered down the road to her left. Sighing heavily, she adjusted her grip on the rifle and looked at the people in front of her. With their lack of bullets, their best bet was running and praying they wouldn't run into Quade. However, there was no way Jezebel would make it another three steps, with her swaying from side to side from the effort of standing upright.

She opened her mouth, but shut it abruptly seeing something move behind Rich's head. She lifted her gun and stalked forward, brushing past Fisher and making sure the click of a bullet entering the chamber was loud enough for everyone to hear.

Ace's target put her hands up quickly. "Ace! It's me!"

Her gruffness melted. Ace blinked hard, squinting into the semi-darkness. "Bonnie?"

"Yeah," Bonnie said shakily, glancing over her shoulder from where she came. Yet there was no movement from the right side of the road.

Ace lowered her weapon only halfway seeing Bonnie rub her quivering hands together. Another glance over her shoulder. Ace had her gun up and ready again, pointing down the road at their invisible attacker.

"They're here, aren't they," Ace demanded, looking at Bonnie out of the corner of her eye.

Bonnie lurched forward, hands once again in the air. "There's too many of them, you can't-"

"We can't just let them bend us over either, Bonnie." Ace's voice was cold. "We can't afford it."

Fisher was a step behind her, weapon raised and waiting. Ace couldn't see where Jezebel and Rich were, but she could see how Bonnie deflated at her words.

"Joanne didn't make it back," Bonnie said, her earlier realization evidently hard to voice. A rush of anger and a too tight grip on her weapon was Ace's response. Her vision momentarily turned red, but she flexed her fingers and regained focus.

"How close are they?" Ace asked, and Bonnie sighed in frustration, taking another step forward.

"You _cannot_ be fucking serious…"

"I-" Ace started, but froze. An eerie whistle reached her ears. Two notes. Someone else, who was standing more westward, repeated it. Close enough to be heard but not seen. Her eyes bulged. "Bonnie, where…"

A single shot was fired at the road in front of Ace. Jumping backward and ungracefully bumping into Rich, she made a sweeping motion with her hands. "Move!"

"Where?" Fisher whispered hoarsely. The foliage behind the gas station was whistling now too.

Ace whipped her head around, seeing movement from every direction. The roar of an engine from down the road made the hair on the back of her neck stand up straight.

"Right! Go right!" Ace said, only loud enough for Rich and Fisher to hear her. She shot the first sign of movement and took a few steps into the foliage, going back the way they came. Someone stepped out from behind a tree and Fisher stepped forward to deal with it.

Adrenaline made Ace's movements clumsy. She struggled to pull out her brass knuckles, all the while turning around to see why Rich and Jezebel weren't behind her.

Bonnie had an iron grip on Jezebel, pleading for her to stop fighting. Rich had started to enter the forest again, effectively giving up.

Ace snarled and jumped out of the treeline, pushing past Rich, who put up an arm to stop her.

"She'll never make it," he said. "Leave her with Bonnie, and we can make it on foot-"

Ace already ripped Jezebel free from Bonnie's grip. Bonnie stumbled backward. The cars were terrifyingly close, and Ace saw forms in the greenery across the road turn into the shapes of people. Exhausted, Jezebel allowed Ace to wrap her arm around her waist and all but drag her back into the foliage.

"Don't," Bonnie warned for a final time, voice taut. Ace didn't look back.

Bonnie's arms dropped to her side in defeat. The trucks full of Negan's men came to a rumbling halt soon after Ace's dutiful braid whipped out of sight.

Bonnie stood there uselessly until someone yanked her towards the gas station. A big truck was turning into the clearing beside the small building, its headlights pouring onto the empty grass. Some of Negan's people took up positions just outside of the beams of light.

Her heart sank as she was shoved to her knees. A van to her left opened up and started pulling people out.

She looked forward again as they, too, were brought to their knees. Her heart dropped and tears began to pool in her eyes.

* * *

Jezebel was panting loudly, which made a stealthy escape impossible. Not that the pounding of footsteps following them gave Ace that much hope to begin with.

Still, she dredged forward. At least the trees were dense enough to provide at least a semblance of cover. It was only the two of them, after all. She didn't expect Rich and Fisher to wait for her and Jezebel, so they were probably a few steps ahead.

Thinking that eased Ace considerably.

"I think I'm dying," Jezebel groaned, voice quivering along with her limbs. Her grip on Ace was becoming looser.

"You're not," Ace replied, shifting her weight so she could support her more easily. She stepped over a log and carried Jezebel over it before continuing on as before. "You're exhausted. We just have to find someplace to sit for a minute."

"I'm not gonna make it," Jezebel insisted. Ace couldn't tell it the other woman was crying or if she had started to sweat more profusely. "Oh god, I'm gonna die out here…"

"You're not," Ace said, her voice strained. "They're gonna thin out eventually and we'll get away. You're not dying."

A whistle. Two notes directly behind the tree in front of them. Both women stopped short.

"Ace," Jezebel whimpered. She was definitely crying now. Slowly, Ace removed her arm from Jezebel. She closed her fist around her brass knuckles, the metal drenched in sweat.

The tree to her right exploded, wielding something aimed for her head. She caught their arm and threw them away from Jezebel with all her strength. From behind her, someone pushed her to the ground. She spat out a mouthful of dirt and her hackles raised as Jezebel hollered her name.

Someone sent a kick directly to Ace's chest, knocking the wind out of her. It was too dark to see whether she had three attackers or one hundred. Wheezing, she propelled herself forward on all fours towards the fading sounds of Jezebel.

Resisting the urge to slump against the nearest tree, she used it to shove herself forward. There was no use in giving up now, she knew this. The whistling had returned, and it was everywhere. It was loud but didn't drain out the sound of a gunshot, nor the one that followed it.

She swore she heard Rich scream in pain. She grit her teeth and staggered forward.

So focused on escape, she refused to acknowledge that it was becoming too easy. Despite hearing them all around her, they seemed to just be reminding her they were still there, as opposed to closing in. She continued being taunted like this for a considerable amount of time.

With eyes permanently cast downward, she noticed the ground began to lighten. The treeline. Behind her came another sharp whistle, a reminder that she had no choice but to continue moving towards it.

It wasn't until she broke free from the treeline that she understood. She looked up. The light was from a truck. The shadows around it were too dense not to be filled with people. Blinded, she raised her arms to cover her face.

She could feel eyes on her, but the clearing was dead silent, apart from the distant chirps of wildlife. The whistling behind her had ceased. The crunch of boots was almost deafening at this point as her pursuers came from behind and pushed Ace closer to the truck.

The minute she spent walking was one of shame. She could feel blood seeping from the corner of her mouth. Perfect strangers were allowed a good long look at her filthy, dirt-covered clothes and face.

When she arrived at where they wanted her to be, they shoved her shoulders downward.

Just as they wanted, she crumpled to her knees.

Eyes watering and looking down, she watched as her brass knuckles were ripped off of her hand and thrown to the side. The legs next to her garnered more of her interest, though. Chancing a look to see who it was, she met the wide eyes of Rich. Beside him was Jezebel. On her right sat Fisher, who had fear written all over his face.

Beyond Fisher, sat Bonnie. Then Looey. Then Miranda. Gregory. Reuben. Next to Jezebel sat Olivia and Cameron.

Seeing them was a punch to the face. She bowed her head, guilt and shame cracking her monotonous expression. Just because they could run from Quade didn't mean they could run from everything.

Someone who wasn't wielding a baseball bat stood before them. His legs were spread and the moustache on his face was unkempt.

"Lucky number four," he said, sounding jovial for the sake of his onlooking men. To Ace, his voice was a sharp sneer. "This better be the last time we have to do this."

He hit the truck with his fist. One second, then two passed. Someone coughed.

Finally, someone who was unmistakably Negan stepped out of the truck. Baseball bat slung over his shoulder, he had the same impatience Ace had seen at the camp.

He stepped in front of them and took less than a second to swing his baseball bat at Ace. She looked up slightly, to see he was looking to his right.

"This your Asian lady saviour?" Negan asked Seth, who stood with the rest of his group, quite a bit away. Seth nodded.

Negan looked at her, pointing his baseball bat as if it were an emperor's staff. Up close and personal, she could see the blood stained barbed wire that lined it. Its owner looked just as inviting.

He frowned, swinging the bat so it was behind his head again. He waited a moment before saying: "I take it back. You don't have a single brain cell in your fucking head."

Ace didn't look down, even when he started pacing back and forth to examine the three he hadn't yet been acquainted with.

"You follow these idiots?" Negan asked Fisher, who could meet Negan's eyes for only a few seconds. Negan shook his head and offered a humourless yet drawn out laugh. He scratched the space between his eyes with his thumb before gesturing to himself. "I'm Negan. Let me start by just saying; I do _not_ appreciate being interrupted."

Rich looked up at Negan for the first time and seeing the man's taunting smile, he sat up a little bit more. His squared shoulders got a slight chuckle out of Negan before he turned back to Ace. He opened his mouth to say something but then shook his head, massaging his eyelids as if he was in physical pain just having to look at them.

"Unfortunately for you sorry shits, I'm not in the mood to repeat my show-stopping speech, as magnificent as it is," he explained, looking tired. "So I'm just going to skip right to it and off the ones that killed my men. All of you, one by one with Lucille right here."

As he brandished his bat and stroked it lovingly, a quiet sob drug Ace's attention away from Negan. She turned to see Miranda's mouth open, panic fueling the wild light in her eyes. Looey bowed his head. Ace looked to her left and saw Olivia cover her mouth and shut her eyes.

She faced forward again, staring at the ground, horrified. Fisher's breathing was uneven. Rich placed his hand on Jezebel's shoulder as she started to cry.

Negan was distracted by the noise of her crying and paused admiring his weapon to give her a slow look over. He walked a bit closer to her and she flinched terribly.

"Damn," Negan whistled. "If I didn't know better I'd think the Biters had gotten smarter and learned how to act."

Jezebel cried harder at the taunts and Ace watched carefully as the hand on her stomach pressed inward as if her stress was physically paining her.

Negan swung his bat to and fro. "Guess you'll be number one."

"Wait," Ace said, loud enough to be heard, but quiet enough to still be in touch with her emotions. She could feel Looey's stare burning into her. Negan took a long time to yank his eyes away from Jezebel to look at Ace. "She's pregnant."

Negan looked down to see that Jezebel did, in fact, have a baby bump protruding out of her stomach. "How am I supposed to help that?"

"Whatever you want," Ace said, her voice descending into a raspy whisper. "You can have it without killing her."

"That's not how this works, sweetheart," Negan replied, voice barely controlled. "I'll get what I want no matter what. When I'm killing you, it's to teach a lesson to the rest of the assholes watching."

He pointed to his chest again and shrugged. Ace looked up at him evenly, but her mouth was twitching into a snarl ever so gradually.

"I am a very reasonable man. We gave you dickheads a chance to come quietly and you did nothing of the sort. And now, you've gotta pay."

Ace looked across to Jezebel, who looked like she was about to faint. Then she looked back at Negan, who cupped his ear mockingly, waiting for her to pipe up again. When it was clear she wasn't going to, he tsked loudly and looked them all over again. His eye twitched and he stopped swinging his bat.

Turning to the man with the moustache, he asked: "How many did we get before?"

"Two," the other man replied. Negan looked at those kneeling directly before him again.

"And how many, Simon, did you hear ol' Sammy boy say was part of this group out for a run?"

Simon took a moment to remember before his face slackened. "Seven."

"Do you know what two and four makes?" Negan asked to no one except his growing anger. "Not seven, that's for fucking sure."

At this point, even Rich bowed his head to avoid Negan's anger. Ace cautioned a glance upward and made eye contact with the man of the hour.

He pointed his bat at her again. "Do you know where number seven is?"

Ace took a moment before nodding.

Negan hunched down until he was squatting in front of her at eye level. He looked at her for a long moment. She blinked. He raised his eyebrows expectantly. "Well?"

"She ..." Ace stopped to think for a moment. "She's dead."

Negan didn't like her pause. Ace felt her hands twitching being pinned under his gaze for so long.

"Really," he drawled.

"If she isn't she is now," Ace said, wishing she could see Looey's reaction to her words.

Negan looked to his right and gave a humourless laugh. When he looked back at her, his expression was stony. "Why do I get the feeling you're lying to me?"

Ace opened her mouth, but his mouth twitched and she shut it again.

"And sweetheart, in case you couldn't read the room, you lying to _me_ ," Negan enunciated slowly as if she was a disobedient child. "Is not going to fly."

"It's the truth," Ace said. Her voice was even. The slight twitch of his eye let Ace know her reaction didn't sit well with him. She repeated herself as if her words would hold more weight this time around: "She's dead."

Negan watched her, looking her up and down. He ran his tongue over his teeth and stared into unyielding eyes. Finally, he stood and said. "Ain't that a shame."

Ace swallowed thickly. Negan brought his left leg back as if to brace himself.

"I told you not to lie to me," he said, adjusting his grip on his baseball bat. Bonnie gasped loudly and Ace's eyes widened in horror. "It's too bad. I like you better than Sammy boy, but disrespecting me is a giant no-no."

He had a sadistic gleam in his eye as he hoisted Lucille over his shoulder, to the perfect angle.

"She ran," Rich shouted, causing Negan to be taken aback for a second. "She ran and for all we know she might as well be dead."

Negan looked at Rich like he was an insect. "Now I'm hearing some contradictions."

"She's gone," Rich insisted. His voice was hoarse and Ace watched him carefully out of the corner of her eye. "She's not coming back."

"And what, my bald-headed friend, makes you so certain?" Negan asked, lowering his bat. A few people breathed out, but Ace didn't allow herself to.

"We came across another group," Rich said, keeping his story as authentic as possible so as to not be framed as a liar. "And they offered her a pass and she took it."

Negan smirked again, enjoying the way they recoiled as he stepped closer. "This group-"

"They're gone," Rich said. "They took one of ours and left."

He started to swing his baseball bat again and Rich took a deep breath. The air was thick.

"They just took your man and ran away off into the sunset?" Negan asked, his voice terrifyingly light. "Really?"

"We-" Ace started.

"Let the man speak!" Negan shouted, cutting her off with a glare before nodding for Rich to continue. Even his own men jumped when Negan raised his voice. Ace bit her tongue and flit her eyes down. Rich looked at Ace for a second before continuing.

"We came across them before. They were leaving this time, for good," Rich said. He touched the ground to brace himself under Negan's glare.

Ace admired him. Lying through his ass at a time like this was truly impressive. She forced herself to breathe evenly as Fisher shifted his weight.

"Then they left. We thought you were them when we got back to camp."

Negan, tongue stuck in his cheek, gave a shadowed smile. "What a story."

Negan stared at Rich, tapping his bat on the ground rhythmically. Ace once again marveled how such a large group of people could stay quiet for so long.

"You guys must have taken a hard hit today," Negan mused, running his hand down his beard. He would have even sounded sympathetic had the last ten minutes happened differently. "And as you all look like utter and complete shit, I am _inclined_ to believe you. As I said, I'm a reasonable man."

Fisher looked to Ace and she looked back. She stifled the glimmer of hope in her mind. There was something beneath the pity. He wasn't voicing his true train of thought.

Looking up, Ace couldn't tell if he was deep in thought or if what he was doing was a show to get them riled up. He had them tied with a thin string of hope and their eyes were glued to him as a result. When he finally clicked his tongue, it was deafening.

He extended his arms and smiled. "Today's your lucky day."

Jezebel released a giant breath of air. Rich once again put his hand on her shoulder, shaking it slightly. Fisher hung his head and sighed. Ace imagined Cameron and Olivia were exchanging smiles.

Ace didn't look away from Negan. As he grinned, he noticed her intense stare. He gave her a wink.

Ace's blood ran cold.

He lifted his bat over his head. He stared her down. There was a seconds pause before it came down.

Ace braced for impact.

Lucille came down on Rich's head with a sickening _THWACK._ Jezebel froze and her eyes bulged. Fisher tensed, watching the scene as if it wasn't real. Ace could hear someone beside her gasp loudly.

As for Ace, well. She watched Rich hit the ground with a leaden heart. Mouth open in silent horror, she clenched her fists tightly. Rich tried to bring himself up onto his elbows.

Negan brought up his bat up again and slammed it back into Rich's skull. This time Jezebel screamed. Fisher began to cry.

Again and again. The bat kept on hitting Rich even when his skull split open. Ace flinched every time it made contact, but she couldn't do much else. She heard her group reacting, but couldn't piece together who was crying and who was screaming.

She watched Negan as he stood up straight with a mesmerizing smile on his face. He looked down a Rich.

"Strap on in," he said, twirling his bat and raising it to the sky yet again. "I'm just getting started."

It seemed to go on forever. Hit after hit until people were so numb they couldn't even cry anymore. Negan still threw all of his weight into every hit. Jezebel offered a few muted hiccups and Fisher had his head in his hands.

Ace kept her eyes trained on Lucille, as a chunk of Rich was stuck to the barbed wire. Negan must have noticed her staring, so he flicked the bat at her, spraying Ace with Rich's blood. She felt it. Like a scar ripping her face in half. She finally looked away.

The clearing was mostly silent again, apart from the residual sob, most likely coming from Miranda. Negan stood up straight, adjusting his jacket slowly.

"You people were quite an audience," he said. His smile was haunting.

Ace didn't have the strength to look up anymore. Instead, she chose to keep her eyes down, right next to Rich's twitching corpse. She wanted with all of her heart to close her eyes and allow them to pool with tears.

"Come on, why so upset? You should be celebrating. He just took one for the team!" Negan exclaimed, the joy in his voice making vomit rise in Ace's stomach.

She looked up. He was looking over her group, grinning at the terror no doubt drowning them. Fisher hadn't moved his hands.

Did this mean, if Rich had taken one for the team, that the other five of them wouldn't meet the same gruesome fate? Although her stomach was filled with cement, another flicker of hope entered her mind.

When Negan noticed her looking up again, she wished she had keeled over like Jezebel. Instead, she was stuck.

"That's right," he said, nodding and answering her unspoken question. "Only one for today."

She felt Rich's blood on her face begin to harden. A breeze passed through the clearing. She could hear crickets, as nature continued not to care about what just happened.

"How about that?" Negan asked, forcing her attention to return to him. He sounded awful proud of himself. "That's pretty generous, don't you think?"

Ace watched him dumbly, refusing to acknowledge any and all subliminal hints. He raised his eyebrows expectantly.

She looked at his baseball bat. A piece of Rich clung to it desperately and Ace wasn't sure if she could keep from puking for much longer.

She flinched slightly when he suddenly shoved the bat in her face. His eyes were narrowed now.

"Well?"

"What do I say?" Ace asked, surprised at how exhausted she sounded.

"What, you think me sparing your _life_ doesn't warrant a simple fucking 'thank you'?" Negan said, his voice gaining in volume until he was basically shouting in her face.

Her ears reddened. She felt the absurdity of the situation rise in her throat as hysterical laughter - or perhaps she finally would throw up. Of course, in a situation such as this one, giving thanks should have been the first thing on her mind. Her mistake.

He was serious. Dead serious. Staring her down the hilt of his baseball bat decorated with the flesh and blood of her friend, Negan didn't show any room for negotiation.

Her mouth fell open, still dumbfounded. Embarrassment she had never felt before made her tongue feel huge in her mouth.

"Thank … you," she finally managed. His eyes squinted as he turned his head, cupping his ear with his hand.

"Didn't quite catch that, sweetheart."

Ace felt her hands clench into fists. He was close enough that if she lurched forward she could probably hit him and knock him flat. Jezebel breathed loudly, even that simple task evidently very straining. Ace slackened.

"Thank you," she said again, her voice still hoarse. For good measure, she repeated herself, even louder this time. "Thank you."

That seemed to content Negan, as he returned to his full height with yet another sweet smile on his smug face. "Was that so hard?"

It took everything she had, but she stayed on her knees with her limbs relaxed. Negan looked at Fisher, who was looking at Ace carefully. Ace felt not only his eyes but those of many others as well. Every single person in her group stared holes into her skull.

She felt a fresh wave of embarrassment wash over her. Judging by the shit eating grin on Negan's face, he was enjoying her discomfort thoroughly. Issuing a deep sigh, then a relieved "well, shit", she hoped he would crawl back into his truck and drive away.

"To make a long story short," Negan said. Every second he stood there pompously was another one Ace nearly lost control. "From now on, you work for me.

"Your shit is our shit. You take everything you find and then we'll come get it. And when we come, you open the goddamn door, we _own_ that door."

Ace grabbed a fist full of dirt and then let it slip through her fingertips. She was silent.

"I need to make sure everyone's on board," Negan said, looking straight at Ace. "Or else baldy over here? He's going to have a friend join him real soon."

Knowing Looey was beside her but she couldn't speak to him was torture. She turned her head slightly and Negan's mouth twitched.

He slammed his baseball bat into Rich's mutilated skull yet again. Message received, Ace straightened and snapped her eyes up to meet his.

"Do I make myself clear?" Negan started out shouting this time. Maybe the fact that Ace didn't flinch pissed him off more.

She nodded. He stared her down. Everything was quiet again.

From Ace's left, Jezebel heaved and grabbed her throat. She began to cough loudly. The sound was wet and disturbing.

Ace's first instinct was the jump forward, but she stopped herself. As much as the action disgusted her, she looked up at Negan with pleading eyes. He looked back, lips curling into a satisfied smirk. He nodded and she awkwardly stepped over Rich and slid beside Jezebel, a tentative hand on her back. She felt dirty for walking over him in such a way.

"This," Negan said, wearing another smile. He spread his arms, the baseball bat an extension of his right hand. "Is the beginning for you sorry fucks. Today is the first day of your new lives."

Cameron was pawing the ground, still shaking from crying so hard. Olivia had covered her head. Ace put her arm around Jezebel fully and looked up at Negan with a weary expression. Seeing all of this seemed to content him to no end.

"Well, sayonara for now," Negan announced, taking a few steps backward. The crowd that had been dutifully watching the whole ordeal began to disperse. "Don't miss me too much."

With that, he turned and climbed back into the truck. What could Ace and her people do except stay kneeling and watch Negan go?

The gas station was almost abandoned within a few minutes. All Negan left was tire tracks and Rich's destroyed corpse.

When the final car rumbled out of sight, Bonnie began to cry. Ace rubbed Jezebel's back and tried her best not to stare as a few bugs landed on Rich's vulnerable flesh.

Instead, she looked past a crumpled Fisher and made eye contact with Looey. His stare was hollow, but begged her to answer a question that was no doubt still tearing him apart.

"Joanna-" Looey started to say, his voice cracking and faint.

"Later," Ace promised. She gave Jezebel one last squeeze on her shoulder before placing one steadying hand on the grass. A few pairs of eyes watched as she forced herself to her feet.

She stepped forward to where Negan stood not ten minutes prior. She looked at her people from his perspective. They looked back and Ace wished with all her heart that she could force herself to cry and get it over with.

Instead, she sighed. "Reuben, will you help me carry him back?"

Miranda's lower lip wobbled and she buried her head into Looey's jacket. Bonnie held Greg's hand tightly.

Reuben stood quickly and positioned himself behind Rich. He looked up at Ace without any semblance of grief. Of course, he didn't. She hoped, as she grabbed Rich's shoulders, it would rub off on her, even if it was just an act.

"Cameron," Ace grunted. She looked up at Ace, face slack. "Help Jezebel walk."

Reuben lead the way, backing them into the forest. Ace heard Looey give a few more orders, much nicer than Ace had.

She was shaking so badly she didn't dare to turn to see if anyone was following. The moon shone, bright as ever as they started what would be the worst trek of their lives.


End file.
